This review is super late, but I’m so stoked about I ❤ Fashion Wydowna Spider that I don’t even care that she’s not newsworthy anymore.

To give a brief history of this character, in 2011 Wydowna was a contender in the SDCC doll election under the name “Daughter of Arachne”; she didn’t win the contest, but later ended up becoming the SDCC exclusive doll for 2013, and then this year she was given her first playline release as part of the TRU-exclusive ” I ❤ Fashion” line.

The fact that Wydowna became a playline doll is honestly pretty amazing, and totally awesome. Truly dark-skinned characters seem to be sadly few and far between when it comes to doll lines, and added to that Wydowna is an arguably creepy monster, being a six-armed poisonous spider and all – not exactly something you’d think a big corporation would market to girls.

She is so freaking cool.

I was super-sad last year about not being able to get Wydowna’s SDCC doll; she’s so monstery plus the extra outfit was comic-book print! ..But this playline release is even better and more deliciously pop-arty. ^_^ I even like the faceup better on ILF Wydowna; the blue/yellow is way more interesting and edgy than just red lipstick + silver eyeshadow. (Here‘s the only decent comparison photo I could find.)

Wydowna has pitch black skin, candy apple red hair (with a widow’s peak.. get it?), and 6 red eyes (2 normal human eyes + 4 arachnid eyes on her forehead). Her lips are the same light blue as her eyeshadow, with black printed fangs. The doll has six arms, each with a different hand mold.

This I<3F doll could really be considered Wydowna’s signature doll, imo, because not only is it her first playline release, but the default outfit is stylistically almost identical to her prototype outfit from the 2011 SDCC vote. The comic-print dress is the same cowgirl-inspired style as her “signature” prototype dress, and the silver boots are recasts of her prototype boots as well. I love love love the changes they made to her signature outfit for this release – the original was a little too country for my taste and the colors were clashy.

It’s like she got a designer makeover..

I love the bold color scheme and while not necessarily fashionable, the geekified cowgirl style totally works somehow. The dress is printed with actual art from the Webarella comic that came with the SDCC Wydowna doll; you can see the Webarella character at the bottom of the skirt. ^^

It was a very pleasant surprise to find that the silver waist cincher is a separate piece from the dress. I was so sure it was going to be sewn on, and am very happy that it is not; so much more mix and match potential!

There are spiderweb-shaped spurs on the heels that actually spin!

The other outfits that come with this doll are equally as fabulous, and they’re all wonderfully color coordinated and continue the pop-art/comic theme.

The yellow shoes are recasts of her SDCC alternate shoes; they are desperately in need of some paint to highlight the web detail, but otherwise everything about this outfit is totally on point.

The leggings are so damn awesome and I seriously want a pair in human size; the image on them is a comic-style cityscape, presumably also taken from the Webarella comic.

Somehow I didn’t get any photos of the actual Wydowna doll in the third outfit, which is a striped mini skirt and wide-armed t-shirt with a pop-arty (and delightfully morbid) “splat” design on the chest, and coordinating white go-go boots that match the accompanying purse. Fakie-wydowna didn’t quite fit in the other outfits, so the “splat” one seems to have become hers.

Coordinating boots & purse (which actually opens up).

Let’s talk about Fakie-wydowna for a minute, actually. Back before ILF Wydowna was on store shelves and owning a version of her seemed an impossible dream, one of the mods on the MHArena was nice enough to place a group order on Taobao and through her I procured what is really a fantastic knockoff.

She is very nearly identical to a real MH doll and actually came with recasts of SDCC Webarella’s boots which is a cool bonus. The fake doll’s body is a slightly shiny recast of an actual MH doll with all the same articulation (and even all the same hand molds as the real Wydowna), and her head seems to be a modified recast of the real Wydowna’s; the fakie does not have sculpted eyeballs but otherwise looks identical to me.

The fakie’s hair is not nearly as nice a texture as the real deal, but the rooting is surprisingly good. As a matter of fact, my husband could not tell the difference between the fake doll and the real one, and even stated a preference for the face on the fake one. I was planning to reroot and repaint the fakie in different colors, but it’s kind of a shame to mess with her since she’s already quite nice. The only weird thing about Fakie-wydowna is that even though her body looks identical to real-Wydowna, her arms do not fit Wydowna’s clothes as well, they seem to take up more space somehow.

Well, I guess that’s about it for Wydowna and her bootleg counterpart..

If I had to get rid of every Monster High doll but one – this Wydowna would be the one I’d keep. She’s so wonderfully monstery and unexpected, and has such a strong, edgy, pop-art aesthetic (with her own actual comic book print on her clothes!).. she’s really everything I could ever have wanted in a doll!

I Love Fashion Clawdeen is a doll that I was really anticipating; it took a looong time for her and Scarah to make it to Canada. I went to Toys R Us so many times hoping to find this fantastic set and she came home with me the first day I finally saw her in the store… and then she sat, still boxed, in a corner of my living room for a week. There was nothing wrong with the doll; something about her just wasn’t speaking to me, despite the long and eager wait I’d had to get her. And then one day, I was shopping for something else and decided to look through the Clawdeens again – and found the perfect one.

I am probably the pickiest doll collector on the planet – I have to examine every single doll on the shelf before buying, searching not only for technical perfection, but that special something in its face that makes a doll come alive in my mind. My husband rolls his eyes, but now that I’ve been collecting for more than a year and I have a metric buttload of dolls, I’ve come to realize that if a doll has too many flaws or lacks that “soul” to me, then it will tend to sit, unplayed with and unphotographed, and collect dust.

So maybe y’all can understand my excitement when I found the perfect Clawdeen. I may be the only person who could even tell the difference between the one I kept and the one I returned, but apparently it matters to me.

The I Love Fashion Clawdeen set comes with a clothed doll and two extra outfits, each with shoes. The doll comes dressed in a lime green tank top w/ black printed abstract designs reminiscent of zebra stripes, a black faux-snakeskin vest trimmed in purple, and capri pants that fade from black to plum. She’s also wearing tall gold open-toed boots, lime green & purple hoop earrings, a black belt, and a variety of bracelets as well as clawed gold brass knuckles (so bad-ass!). She also comes with a lime green boombox purse that’s a recolor of the one issued with Dance Class Howleen. One of her hands has a sculpted purple two-fingered glove.